Trial of former Goldman Sachs bond trader set to shed light on Wall St meltdown

The trial of former Goldman Sachs bond trader Fabrice Tourre is set to highlight what went wrong on Wall St during the global financial crisis.

Jury selection began in New York yesterday in the civil fraud case against Tourre, 34.

The SEC says he misled investors in an ill-fated mortgage securities investment.

At the time, Tourre, a French national, was 28 and working at Goldman Sachs in New York.

He became the bank’s principal employee working on what became known as Abacus, a synthetic collateralized debt obligation.

In a much-cited email sent on January 23, 2007, to his then girlfriend, Tourre said of the financial markets, the ‘whole building is about to collapse anytime now’.

‘Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab... standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!’

Tourre denies the charges.

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Trial of former Goldman Sachs bond trader set to shed light on Wall St meltdown